1959 Bel Air versus 2009 Malibu - NMC but at least car-related

You're quoting the same people who rated the Malibu's reliability worst of all cars in it's comparison?

Sounds like junk to me, I think you just helped me prove my point.

My parent's 1994 Camry has never been back to the dealership. My 1995 Honda Accord went in for service every 6 months until I received it this month. Both cars have been extremely reliable. The Accord, with 77,000 miles, is in a bit better shape than the Camry with 164,000 miles.

Taking the 2008 Camry in every 2 months may help your mother's peace of mind, but the Camry is a reliable car model with or without excessive service/maintenance. Yes, the Camrys are expensive, I agree.

Did you ever own a 1986 Ford LTD? That was a true lemon. The number of things that went wrong with this car would take a while to type out. It was owned by my parents, but I still ended up driving a 1990 Ford Thunderbird SC that fell apart at a little over 100,000 miles, after breaking 3 transmissions before it hit 90K.

It was not that many years back that I rented a Ford Mustang with 300 miles on it, a 2003 or maybe 2004 model. That Mustang was an awful pig of a vehicle to drive, though it did not break down, so I guess there was some improvement over the LTD and the Thunderbird.

After watching my parent's Camry and many other imports easily go to

150K miles and beyond, I can not feel anything but contempt for the 2004 Impala that my neighbor bought and frequently took to the dealership for warranty issues until it finally threw a rod, at 37K miles, and made it back onto their lot, for some other sucker to buy, in less than 3 years.

The automotive sales numbers make a far stronger argument than either one of us ever will.

Pat

"Buying domestic" does not help "the U.S. economy." It helps the firm and industry that makes the product, at the expense of firms and industries that manufacture for export. So if you want to help GM by denying yourself a better imported product, fine. But do not be under the delusion that it's good for the economy. That is propoganda.

Well, not completely. The workers who assemble domestic cars are fairly likely to spend most of their pay locally. That helps keep bars, casinos, and bowling alleys in business. Of course, this applies equally to "foreign" models assembled in U.S. plants.

As a taxpayer, I want GM to succeed so I'll get some some return on my involuntary "investment." But not enough to replace either of my Mazdas with some lump of domestic coal.

If only Chevy could apply the world class formula they

Pat

But does it have a HUGE TAK?

Iva & Vixen (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

2004 Classic Red No more winkin' Miata

Tim, now that'll be a fun car! In fact it sounds like it's going to be an interesting enough vehicle to entice you ;-) You know when Michael Schumacher was on Top Gear, he said that's his daily driver (when he's not driving the kids around in the 'estate')

Chris

99BBB

Tim wrote: "Right now, I'm looking forward to test driving an Abarth Fiat 500 as soon as Chrysler/Fiat brings them to the U.S. next year!

I am glad that you have had such good luck with domestic vehicles. If my luck with them was half as good as what you report, I might also consider buying another one.

My life experience is that American vehicles are poorly-made products that are generally beaten, and beaten badly, by the Japanese competition.

At the risk of repeating myself, the automotive sales numbers make a far stronger argument than either one of us ever will.

Pat

What qualifies as a "HUGE TAK!"?

I saw one that was 5 inches across at Autozone, but that seems medium-sized at best.

If anyone has a TAK! that is more HUGE than 5 inches, I want to see it, and probably, to buy it to install in my Miata.

The legend of the HUGE TAK! Miata shall never die..........That car was "fast, fast, & yup, ferious!", according to the ad. :-)

Pat

He obviously misspelled "ferrous."

Are you sure the car didn't actually have a HUGH TAK?

That's a very interesting (and insightful) look at the automotive history of the past, right up till now!

Couple thoughts, with all those years of so many Americans buying shitty American cars (Chevettes and Citations and such) how could you NOT have a populace with a lingering bad taste in their mouth! They were selling shitty cars to Americans who were buying them in great part, solely on the Nationalistic view that it was good for America. Honestly, it would have been better for America in the long run to realize (earlier) that the best way to sell a shit load of cars is to build great cars, not to wrap them in the flag like GM and the others did for so long! That's what I call (sadly) good marketing in place of good product!

What fun to see the battle displayed like that! Reminds me of when the Taurus was a great car. I owned one that first year in 1986 and loved it. It had it's (American) flaws (cheap interior with mediocre ergonomics) but, it had the look of the future!

Thanks Pat.

Chris

99BBB

Oh god, I owned a dodge Omni 024. What a horrible, piece of shit car. Yes, that was the last straw for me, I have never purchased an American made car since. Traded that for a Mazda pickup that went over 100k without a hitch. I spent more time fixing that Omni than driving it. From the world's worst shifter linkage to door handles that broke and left standing outside a locked car.. (Yes, I had to crawl in from the passenger side most of the time since the drivers door handle was usually broken. ) I'll look at US made cars at the autoshow but I'd never lay down money for one of them.

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